Stock photo.STRAUSBOURG, France- The trade of seal products in the European Union has been banned as a result of an overwhelming vote in the European Parliament earlier this month.
The 550 to 49 vote forbids the sale of seal products for profit within the EU, with an exception for Inuit and other indigenous peoples.
Robbie Marsland, the United Kingdom director of The International Fund for Animal Welfare, Yarmouth Port, Mass., exclaimed, “The Parliament has hammered the final nail in the coffin of the sealing industry’s market in the EU.
“From Mexico City to Milan, and all the way to Moscow, the world is uniting in opposition to commercial seal hunts. A complete collapse of Canada’s commercial seal hunt may now be inevitable.”
The animal welfare group tells us that, “This March, Russia announced a ban on the hunting of seals under one year of age in the White Sea, effectively ending the Russian seal hunt.”
The group is currently focusing on generating public support for the ban of seal hunting in all Canadian markets.